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Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Ever wonder what happened to those college stars that couldn't catch on in the NBA? The guys that put up the great numbers or the guys that left early, and were never heard from again? Every Wednesday, we at BIAH will take a look at a former college star that never made it in the NBA, and we will update you on where he is playing or what he is doing. We're guessing the results will surprise you. To request a player, leave a comment in the comments section.

Khalid El-Amin, UConn

Khalid El-Amin arrived at UConn in 1997 after having one of the most lauded high school careers in Minnesota history - he won four state titles, three player of the year awards, and was named a McDonald's all-american. Despite being built more like a fullback then a point guard (5'9", 200 lb), El-Amin exploded on the scene as a freshman, averaging 16 ppg on his way to setting the UConn freshman scoring record and being named Big East rookie of the year.

Through his high school and college career, El-Amin gathered a reputation as a leader and a winner. At UConn, he was always the guy that defenses (and fans, most road games resulted in "doughboy" chants) keyed on. He still remains the face of the 1999 championship team that also had NBA players Jake Voskhul and Rip Hamilton.

El-Amin's crowning moment as a Husky came after he led UConn to an upset victory over the heavily favored Duke Blue Devils in the 1999, when he went to the announcers and yelled "We shocked the world!!". El-Amin scored the final four points of that game to give the Huskies the title. UConn lost a lot of talent from that championship team, and although El-Amin probably had his best statistical year as a junior (16.0 ppg, 5.2 apg, 1.7 spg), UConn was knocked out in the 2nd round (partially due to his severely sprained ankle).

After his junior season, El-Amin turned pro and was taken with the 34th pick by the Chicago Bulls. He started 14 games, averaged 6.3 ppg and 2.9 apg, and was named to the all-rookie team, but he was not resigned by Chicago at the end of the 2000-01 season. After bouncing around between the Miami Heat and two D-League teams, El-Amin started to pursue his career overseas, signing with French team Strasbourg in January of 2002, where he averaged 12.8 ppg and 4.9 apg. El-Amin spent the next season in Israel playing for Maccabi Ironi where he averaged 19.7 ppg and 4.9 apg.

The next two years he spent playing for Besiktas Istanbul in Turkey, where he won back-to-back player of the year awards averaging more than 20 ppg and 5 apg each season. He then moved on to Azovmash Mariupol in the Ukraine, where he averaged 19 ppg, 4 rpg, and 4 apg over the course of two seasons, including in 2006 when Azovmash won the Ukrainian championship and El-Amin was named player of the year and finals MVP. In 2007 he signed with Turk Telekom, another Turkish team, where he won the Turkish basketball league title and played in the ULEB tourament. For the season, he averaged 17.5 ppg, but increased that to 19.7 ppg and 3.6 apg in the ULEB. His most memorable game of the past season came when his Turk Telekom team beat spanish phenom Ricky Rubio's Joventut team 96-94. El-Amin and Rubio went toe-to-toe, with El-Amin putting up 33 points and 5 assists while Rubio scored a career high 29 points with 10 assists.

El-Amin will be heading back to Azovmash for the 2008-09 season, where he will play along side Dijon Thompson from UCLA, Marc Salyers of Samford, and Rodney Buford from Creighton.

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